Abstract
A SERIES of articles entitled "Man and His Expanding Universe" is appearing in Sky and Telescope, the first of which, in the December issue, deals with Egyptian astronomy. As the life of the Egyptians depended on the overflowing of the Nile, the beginning of which occurred near the time of the summer solstice, the priest-astronomers held a very high position because they knew that the solstice took place about the time of the helical risings of certain stars. Owing to the precession of the equinoxes, the same star could not be used indefinitely, and it is possible to correlate the times of the buildings of some of their temples with our modern calendar, by calculating the times of the helical risings of some of the principal stars. The solar temple of Amen-Ra at Karnak was so oriented that at the summer solstice the setting sun was able to shine through the entire length of the temple and illuminate a golden image in the sanctuary, and the worshippers saw, not the image itself, but "the presence of the god Ha himself in the sanctuary".
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Ancient Astronomy. Nature 153, 459 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/153459b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/153459b0